How to Boil Eggs

Hard-boiled eggs are a great ingredient for stuffed eggs, egg salads, or can be eaten as a vegetarian snack as a filling, protein-rich snack. However, if your finished product is always boiled eggs with cracked shells and green yolks, that means you haven’t got the best hard-boiled egg. Fortunately, there are ways to boil the best eggs. Especially you can learn in the following simple ways in just a few minutes!

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 3-20 minutes
Total time: 8-25 minutes

Table of Contents

Boiling Eggs on the Stove

Take the egg and place it in a pan or pot. Place the eggs gently in the bottom of a pot or pan with a thick bottom. Arrange gently to avoid breaking the eggs. Do not stack more than 4 floors deep. ^{[1] X Research Source}

If you’re not sure if the eggs are fresh, try by putting them in a bowl of salted water. An egg that sinks is a new egg, and if it floats to the surface, throw it away.
To prevent the eggs from cracking when boiled, you can place a folded piece of cloth in the bottom of the pot. However this is not required.

Put cold water in the pot. Place the eggs in the water about 3cm. Add a little salt. You can use your hand to hold the egg while pouring the water to prevent the egg from breaking. Or you can also pour water in from the edge of the pot.

Cold water prevents the eggs from overcooking. Never put eggs in a pot of hot water if you don’t want the shells to crack and the eggs to harden (poached eggs). ^{[2] X Research Source}
Salt water makes egg whites cook faster. Salt water also has the effect of “healing” the small cracks in the eggshell during the boiling process. ^{[3] X Research Sources}

Reduce heat to medium and place the pot on the stove. Cover and let the water boil just right. Covering the lid will make the eggs cook faster, but if you want to keep an eye on the eggs, it’s okay to open the lid.

Sometimes you can turn the eggs gently so they don’t stick to the bottom of the pot, where they cook unevenly and can crack. Use a wooden spoon to stir, and remember to be very gentle.

Turn off the stove after the water boils. As soon as the water comes to a boil, turn off the heat and leave the pot on. The boiling water temperature and the heat from the stovetop are completely enough to help the eggs cook. Depending on whether you want to eat well-cooked eggs or hard-boiled eggs, the soaking time can range from 3-20 minutes.:

If you like hard-boiled eggs , remove them after soaking for 3 minutes or less. The whites will thicken, while the yolks will remain slightly liquid and warm. ^{[4] X Research Sources}
If you prefer medium-cooked eggs , remove them within 5-7 minutes. The white will be firm, and the center of the yolk will be slightly peachy.
If you prefer to eat well-cooked eggs , soak them in warm water for 10-15 minutes. The whites are fully cooked. This way, you won’t have to worry about the eggs being overcooked.

Refrigerate the eggs to end the boiling process. As soon as the eggs are done boiling, gently pour the hot water out of the pot. You can also use a ladle with holes to scoop out the eggs one at a time. Place eggs under cold running water or drop into a bowl of ice water to cool them quickly. Soak the eggs for about 5 minutes.

After the eggs have cooled down to the point you can hold them in your hand, put them in the refrigerator and let them sit for about 20-30 minutes to separate the shells.
If you don’t care too much about how good the peel is, you can skip the refrigeration step and start peeling immediately after chilling the eggs.
To check if an egg is fully cooked without peeling, turn the egg over on a countertop. If the egg turns quickly and easily, it means that the egg is fully cooked. If the egg wobbles, it needs to be boiled more.

Peel the eggs when you are ready to eat. Crack the egg into a clean flat surface, gently squeezing the egg around the egg to crack the shell. Start peeling at the larger end – where there will be a space under the eggshell. This will make peeling the eggs a little easier. Rinse eggs under cold running water when peeling to remove shell crumbs from eggs.

Quick Peeling Tip: Place all eggs back into the boiling pot and cover. Shake the pot to flatten the shells at the same time.

Keep eggs in the refrigerator for 5 days. You can eat eggs immediately after peeling. You can also store uneaten eggs in a bowl and cover with a plate or plastic wrap. Either way, use a wet paper towel to cover the egg. Change the wet paper towel daily to prevent the eggs from drying out. ^{[5] X Research Source} Eat eggs for four to five days.

Another way to preserve eggs is to put them in cold water. Change the water daily to prevent the eggs from spoiling.
Hard-boiled eggs can also keep for a few days if left unshelled, but this is more likely to be tough and dry. It’s better to peel eggs and store damp eggs in the refrigerator with water or wet paper towels.

Boil Eggs in the Microwave

Boil water in a microwaveable bowl. Basically, microwaves often can’t boil eggs as well as hardboiled, but with a little patience, you can still do it. First, you boil water in the oven. See instructions on how to safely boil water in the microwave for essential information.

It must be repeated again and again: “do not boil eggs with shells in the microwave”. Even if the egg is unshelled, the pressure from the yolk can still cause the egg to explode, damaging your microwave. ^{[6] X Research Sources}

Remove the bowl of boiling water and slowly drop the eggs in. Use a cloth towel or microwave mitts to remove the bowl from the oven. Use a ladle with holes to place the eggs one at a time into the bowl of water. You need to make sure the eggs are completely submerged in the water.

Do not drop eggs directly into the water. The egg not only breaks when it hits the bottom of the bowl, but it also splashes the boiling water in the bowl.

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Once all the eggs are in the bowl, cover the bowl with a plate or a pot lid. Leave it as it is — the eggs will be boiled with the heat of near-boiling water. Boiling time depends on how well you want the eggs to be cooked. Basically, boiling eggs this way will take a little longer than boiling eggs in a pot on the stove. The reason is because boiled eggs of this type are not soaked in water when boiling water in a pot.

If you like to eat poached eggs , leave them for 10 minutes or less. ^{[7] X Research Source} The yolk will be slightly gelatinous.
If you like to eat hard-boiled eggs , leave for 15 minutes. ^{[8] X Research Source} The yolk will ripen and the white will be relatively dense.
If you prefer to eat well-cooked eggs , leave for 20 minutes or so. ^{[9] X Research Source} The whites and yolks have hardened without turning a bluish-gray color.

Remove eggs and refrigerate as usual. After soaking the eggs in cold water, remove them with a ladle with holes. At this point, the remaining steps are the same as with boiled eggs in a pot on the stove. Take a look below:

Soak eggs in cold water for 5 minutes to cool them down.
Once the eggs are in your hand, you can either crack and peel them right away or put them in the fridge for 20-30 minutes to make them easier to peel.
Cover the eggs with a damp paper towel or soak in water and refrigerate. Eat eggs within 4-5 days, changing tissues or water daily.

Fix problem

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If the egg yolk is greenish-gray, shorten the cooking time. Boiling eggs for too long causes the yolks to have a bluish-gray outer layer and smell like sulfur. Actually these eggs are absolutely no problem and you can eat normally. However, they don’t look very good. You simply need to shorten the time to boil eggs next time.

This bluish-gray color forms when the iron in the egg yolk reacts with the hydrogen sulfide released from the white. ^{[10] X Source of Study} This reaction occurs after the eggs have been boiled.
Too high a boiling point also causes the protein in the egg to thicken too much, making the whites tough while the yolks dry.

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If the egg yolk is still too liquid, boil it for a while. If you don’t boil the eggs with enough heat, you’ll have the opposite of the gray-green yolks described above. Uncooked hard-boiled eggs will have an undercooked yolk or white. If the egg is not cooked when you peel the first egg, put the remaining eggs in hot water and continue to soak.

Undercooked eggs can pose a risk of salmonella infection. The FDA recommends boiling eggs until both the whites and yolks have solidified, or using only eggs that have been pasteurized. ^{[11] X Research Source}
As mentioned above, you can spin the egg on a hard surface to test if the egg is cooked. If the egg turns evenly, it means the egg is cooked. Uncooked or uncooked eggs will sway or swing to one side.

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Steaming fresh eggs makes it easier to peel. New eggs over 1-2 days old, the membrane will stick to the shell, making the eggs difficult to peel. ^{[12] X Research Source} The best eggs to boil are eggs that are about 7-10 days old. If you must hard-boil a new egg, steam it first to separate the membrane from the shell:

Place the eggs in a metal steamer and place over the top of a saucepan. Boil about 2-3cm of water in a pan for about 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Then boil the eggs as usual. ^{[13] X Research Source}
Some people like to add a teaspoon of baking soda to the water when boiling new eggs. However, this method can give boiled eggs a sulfuric taste.

Crack and soak eggs that are difficult to peel. If you see the egg white sticking to the shell when peeling, roll the egg to create many small cracks in the surface of the shell. Then soak the eggs in a bowl of cold water for about 5-10 minutes. This will help loosen the eggshell and separate the inner membrane, making the egg easier to peel.

Add vinegar if the eggs crack in the water. This is a common problem, especially with aged eggs. If the eggs are cracked, add a tablespoon of vinegar to the boiling water to help the protein in the egg whites to coagulate faster and to seal the cracks in the eggshell. ^{[14] X Research Source} Act fast — if you add vinegar as soon as cracks are detected, the eggs will still cook evenly.

You can see white rust on cracked eggshells. If you don’t have time to add vinegar, don’t worry too much. The poached egg is fine, just a little rough.

Advice

The poached egg menu includes scrambled eggs, egg salad, breakfast burritos, nicoise salad, and more!
If you are going to cut a hard-boiled egg in half, you should use the freshest eggs because new eggs have the yolk in the middle and less green. ^{[15] X Harpd McGee Research Source . On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. ISBN 0684800012} Try the tips above to identify fresh eggs.
If you’re using a white-shelled egg, add a bit of onion skin (the dry brown part) to the boiling water. The onion skins will turn the eggs slightly brown, and help you tell the difference between raw and cooked eggs quickly.
Stir the eggs a few times when the water boils to help the eggs cook evenly and fix the egg yolks in the middle.
When boiling eggs, make sure the water is boiling enough. For large eggs, boil for 12 minutes, for large eggs, boil for 15 minutes.
Using a small spoon can keep the whites intact as you peel the eggs. Separate a small portion of the shell, then insert a spoon under the egg shell so that the spoon hugs the egg. Then just slide the spoon around the egg and the shell will separate.
By adding a little baking soda to the egg broth, you can crack the ends of the egg (after boiling), put your mouth on the smaller end, and blow. You may have to try a few times, but the egg will fall out at the other end!
Letting eggs come to room temperature before boiling will prevent the yolk from turning green and cracking. ^{[16] X Research Source}
Some documents recommend inserting a needle at the flat end of the egg to help release air and reduce the chance of the egg cracking. ^{[17] X Research Sources} However, many studies have shown this is not a reliable method. ^{[18] X Harpd McGee Research Source . On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen. ISBN 0684800012}

Warning

Do not put eggs in shell directly in the microwave&mdash as it may cause an explosion. Instead, boil water in the microwave, then boil the eggs with boiling water outside. You can also poach eggs in the same way.
Be careful with cooking tasks that involve boiling water. Protect hands and face to avoid burns.
Using too much vinegar will cause the egg to have an unpleasant smell and taste of vinegar.
Do not use cracked eggs as they may contain bacteria. ^{[19] X Research Source}

Steps

Boiling Eggs on the Stove

Boil Eggs in the Microwave

Fix problem

Advice

Warning

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